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We were nominated for awards just based on this trailer! It seems as though people really want our game, which is a really nice feeling. Working on FIFA and Euro, most of what I saw online was speculation of how we’d compare to Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer (Winning Eleven depending what part of the world you live in). It’s a completely different vibe having people looking forward to your game like this.

In a bit of cross-promotion with Dark Millenium Online, we had some people in costume at the booth. They went over incredibly well. We had an Ultramarine, Chaos Marine, and some kind of Ork. Below is the Ultramarine, posing for pictures with fans.

It’s been just about a week since moving into my new apartment, and tonight I made something new, one of my favourites from Japan – Donburi! Donburi is a delicious bowl of meat and vegetables served over rice, often with an egg topping. I used beef in mine, which makes it ????? (gyuudon, literally “beef bowl”). I followed this recipe because it was one of the simpler ones and I wanted to get the basics down before trying something more complicated. I used green beans as my vegetable, which I will admit I don’t remember having on a don before, but it was pretty delicious. I also seasoned the meat with salt, pepper, paprika, and cayenne to give it a bit of extra kick. I guess I’ve grown to like a bit of spice in my food. I considered adding garlic powder with the scallion, but it didn’t feel right. Maybe I should have used some onion powder, or used more onion, as that flavour didn’t come across as well.

The beef was a little tough, I will need to cook it a little less or tenderize it for next time. I’ll also need to get larger bowls for proper presentation. All in all, it was delicious and I am quite happy with it. It’s just my nature to nitpick.

I haven’t found my camera yet. It’s in a box somewhere, I’m just not sure which one. Until then, cell phone pictures. I’m strongly considering making katsu kare in the next couple weeks. Cooking with Dog‘s video looks pretty straightforward.

I know, I know, I haven’t been posting. I’ve been busy with work and just not motivated to cook anything interesting. Also, given my position as an employee at Relic, it’s not exactly kosher for me to talk about video game ideas any more. Not like I posted much before So, the blog’s going to be focused entirely on cooking now, articles online that warrant more than a Facebook link and quick comment for me to dissect, and critiques of games I’ve been playing. For example, the latest privacy changes to Facebook and why my account is stripped of almost all information, and my disappointment with Final Fantasy XIII, especially the latter part.

For the meat of the post, though – I am moving out in June, into a pretty decent new-ish apartment in New Westminster, near the Skytrain. I’m going to need to buy my own pots and pans, and kitchen knives, and could use some recommendations. A good friend’s former boss at EA is a trained chef and once upon a time, recommended All-Clad pots and pans, and GLOBAL knives. I’d like to hear more suggestions on what other people use, or the brands they’ve tried and didn’t have success with. I’m by no means a trained chef; I’m decidedly an amateur who wants to become a better cook and make delicious, eye-catching food.

To that extent, I should really research the different materials that go into modern cooking equipment. Why is copper so good? Why stainless or aluminium? What about ceramics for ovenware? There’s too much I don’t know right now.

So I came back from Japan safely back in November, cooked a bit, and didn’t bother to blog about it. I’ve made sushi twice and my stirfry once, using a new wok I got over Christmas. But that’s not what this post is about. This post is about the omelettes, hashbrowns, and cinnamon toast I made for dinner tonight!

Going clockwise, there’s chopped genoa salami, tomato, Yukon gold potato, green onion, and cheddar cheese. The salami, tomato, and green onion went in a pan with some margarine and cooked over medium heat, becoming the filling for my omelettes.

The hashbrowns were straightforward. Chop the potatoes and put them in a pan with a little oil over medium heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally after the first 10 minutes to prevent sticking and evenly cook the sides. Salt and pepper was to be added at the end, but I put it in after the first 10 minutes to draw out more flavour.

I’ve never made an omelette before so I wasn’t quite sure how to work with it. Once they started to cook and I wasn’t pushing liquid around I started to get a feel for them. On with the fillings!

The cinnamon toast was easy. Lightly toast the bread, apply margarine and a mix of cinnamon and white sugar, toast more.

Everything came out really well. I’m not normally an egg person but I would have this again and experiment with different fillings.

Well, today was the last day! I’m more or less packed up, and tomorrow I’ll be on my way to Narita airport to catch my flight home. I’ll have quite a bit of time to kill before my flight, hopefully there’s an arcade. I want to play more Gundam. If not, I bought some English-language books at the Tokyo National Museum today, which was pretty cool. There was a special exhibit on historical artifacts, with relics from the early days of the Japanese Empire but also some swords made a few centuries ago. Lots of calligraphy and scrolls, too, which were pretty to look at but impossible for me to read.

Hopefully I can catch some sleep on the plane. It will really help with the jetlag. When I check in I’ll ask if I can be put on standby for an upgrade or something.

Tonight is my 2nd-last night in Japan. I’m not really sure what to say to this besides “wow.” Not “wow, already,” because the act of returning to Tokyo made it clear to me in advance that the trip was almost over. Also not “wow, finally,” because apart from the odd disappointing destination, things have been pretty good. Anyway, the last two days.

Yesterday I went to Akihabara Electric Town, aptly nicknamed nerdvana by someone I know online. In my last post, I said “I’m under budget, so maybe I can catch up by buying geeky things.” Akihabara had no problem supplying me with enough geeky things, but I restrained myself and didn’t buy some things I saw, for reasons of “I’ll never use/wear this.” If my PS2 could play NTSC-J games, believe me I would have bought the International versions of several Square Enix games. And God Hand. When I get back I’ll probably just buy the NTSC-U/C version.

Also in Akihabara, I found English instructions for the Gundam game I previously mentioned, Kid? Senshi Gundam: Senj? no Kizuna. I forked out some money and played a few rounds, it’s crazy fun 4v4 action in the original Gundam setting. Virtual On‘s got nothing on this. I dominated my first couple newbie matches but once I got to players closer to my level I started losing hard. I seem to have always had the high score on my team though. How about that?

I never found any Mega Man figures, but I did get a Mega Man Zero 3 strategy guide, which is written with furigana, so I think I’ll try to translate it in my spare time, develop my language skills. I’ve always learned best by doing. The furigana is important, as trying to decipher kanji I’ve never seen before would be an exercise in inefficiency at best.

On the way back from Akihabara, I stopped at a noodle place within Suid?bashi station for dinner, it was yummy and as often I burned my tongue by trying to eat too fast.

Today I went to check out the Sony building. It wasn’t open when I arrived at Ginza station, so I wandered towards Hibiya Park and the Imperial Palace grounds. Since the Imperial Family resides there, very little of it was accessible to the public but what I saw was all very well kept and pretty. Across the street was a park full of fountains that put on various shows of water, it was nice to sit and watch the waterworks for a while.

Finally I made my way back to the Sony building after a brief arcade stop. It was basically a several floor showroom of Sony products, not really worth the time for me to go since I had no plans to bring a new TV, camera, or PSP back to Canada with me.

So, off to Tokyo Tower. At the base of the tower is a four level building with shops, restaurants, and entertainment. The tower itself has two observatories, both with different and interesting views. It was pretty busy though, and hyperactive kids abounded. Still good times.

For lunch/dinner I had pizza and for dessert, a cool waffle/ice cream combo. Check it out in the photos, it was delicious. I would have gotten another crepe (there was a crepe place nearby) but that waffle bowl just looked too good not to try.

Today was a down and up kind of day. I went to Harajuku, specifically to Yoyogi Park, looking for cosplayers and oddly dressed people, as recommended by various sources. I had a slight Google Maps mixup and was confused into thinking the Meiji Shrine grounds were the same park, turns out they’re separate but adjacent entities. Regardless, I found only a very few people dressed up, on one of the shopping streets. In Yoyogi, though, I slipped on some mud and landed on my right side. Ouch. The skin broke on basically the tip of my wrist, no blood, and my vest and jeans got muddy, otherwise fine, I walked it off. I will be doing laundry tomorrow night instead of Tuesday, though. From further research tonight, it looks like I should have gone to Akihabara for cosplayers. Oh well.

I had lunch, a sandwich at a coffee shop, then picked up a Harajuku crepe. They’re large, thin, light crepes stuffed with all kinds of dessert-y toppings like fruit, chocolate, caramel, ice cream, even cheesecake! Mine just had chocolate sauce, strawberries, vanilla ice cream, and whipped cream. So good!

Off to the Final Fantasy Tactics concert. I got there at 2:00 and there was already a sizeable crowd. Around 2:30 we started going in and the concert itself started at 3:10, a little late. It was very well done, it felt quite professional. I have been inspired to replay the game and actually finish it this time. Donations were taken on the way out, unfortunately the only bill below Y10,000 I had was a single Y1,000. I wanted to give more than that but not as much as Y10,000. I should have kept a better eye on my small bills. Oh well.

Tomorrow I think I will go to Akihabara! I’m under budget, so maybe I can catch up by buying geeky things. Or, I could bring unspent money back. That works too.

Today I went to Shibuya! My primary motivation to head that way was the World Ends with You, one of my favourite DS games. Nerdy, I know, but hey, that’s the way I am. The crowds were huge, and I think going during the week would have diluted the whole experience. I followed the crowd at first, crossing at the scramble, passing by 109 (104 in game) and up towards Dogenzaka. After that, I found Mark City (Pork City in game). I wandered the back streets, surprising myself with the number of love hotels around, it seemed there was one any time I looked at specific buildings instead of the scene in front of me. Next, a quick peek at the arcade below 109.

At Tokyu Hands (Shibu-Q Heads), I made some unplanned souvenir purchases for friends but one of them was too good to pass up and the others just seemed like things they’d like. On the way to Tower Records (Towa Records), I saw someone dressed in an unusual costume. With the wings on the back, I thought at first it might be a moogle, then I started picking apart all the differences. If anyone knows what that’s supposed to be, leave a comment, eh?

So, Tower Records. It’s huge and full of music, DVDs, and BDs. While on level 4, looking for the soundtracks for TWEWY and Megaman ZX, a woman started a live performance, drawing a small crowd. Unfortunately the soundtrack section appeared to only have movies and anime, no games at all, so I left without anything. On my way back to the scramble I wandered past OICITY (Cadoi City), and saw another live performance. I decided this time to take a look around for Hachiko, and found the Moyai, but not the dog. I figured I’d find it on my next pass and moved along.

Following the back streets, I found a MOS Burger! I had the tobikiri kinokoburger, a kurokke, and white grape soda. I’m not sure where the fries came into things, I didn’t order them but they came with my order. Yay? The kurokke was fine, veggietastic, not sure it warrants its own burger. The kinoko burger, though, was just awesome. I want more of them. Too bad there aren’t any in Canada… maybe something to look into. Or at least I should figure out the ingredients to try and replicate it at home.

I stopped by another arcade and played a couple games, including Beatmania IIDX and Taiko no Tatsujin. I played on beginner and felt a little silly playing at that level, but I couldn’t read the Japanese instructions and wanted to play it safe. I got multiple plays per credit so I was able to try some more challenging stuff.

Some more wandering later, I stopped at HMV (AMX), again looking for soundtracks, but they didn’t even have a soundtrack section. They also had a band playing but they were very loud and I didn’t stay for long. At my next trip to the station, I finally found Hachiko. I imagined he would be larger than he was, but it was cool to find him. Definitely a popular meeting spot and photo op. I had to wait a few minutes to get a clear shot without him being crowded with people.

At this point I was starting to feel I’d had enough of Shibuya and decided to check out the Meiji Shrine before returning to the hotel. So, I wandered off via Miyashita Park (same), which is basically just a bit of green space on either side of the train tracks, not much to see. At the shrine, there were at least two weddings going on, and plenty of people were shooting the processions so I joined the club. I suspected weddings, but didn’t get confirmation for sure until I saw a sign in front of one of the inner buildings, asking visitors to please be deferential to weddings in progress.

I returned to the hotel via Shibuya and here I am. Tomorrow I’m going to check out the cosplayers at Harajuku, then go to Tachikawa for the Final Fantasy Tactics concert.

Well, I’m in Tokyo. Woo! I am excited about my trip again. After putting my things down in my room, I found my bearings and went to look around Ikebukuro. Holy crap, people everywhere. I’ll grant that it was Friday afternoon but still. Wow. Lots of people. Lots of really tall buildings and things to see. I have decided at this point that I have been good about trying many different things in Japan so from here until I get home I am going to eat or drink what I want to have, and enjoy the things I might not get to have again.

So here I am, back on the shinkansen, on my way back to Tokyo. Today is day 15 – the first day of the last week of my trip. It hit me pretty suddenly last night, but this time a week from now I will be home, probably in bed what with the jet lag and everything. I’m on a kodama shinkansen right now, the equivalent of a local train – it makes every stop. It’ll take 3 hours to do the Nagoya-Tokyo trip instead of 2, but whatever, I’m not in a rush.

So yeah, Nagoya. Wednesday, I went to the Toyota Museum of Industry and Technology. I would have been there sooner but I got lost on the way! I must have missed some signs, and I didn’t have a map, so I went way off course until I realized I was walking too far form what the information I read had suggested. On the plus side, I discovered just how awesome Calpis soda is, and I eventually got to the museum.

It was cool seeing how the company got started with machines for textiles and then became the auto giant it is today. There were lots of robots on display, between the Toyota Partner Robot, a small humanoid that can play musical instruments, and all the robots used in auto manufacturing. Also cool were the replicas of the materials testing lab and the prototype plant used for R&D on the first Toyota cars.

After that I went to Noritake park, which is pretty small and not all that special. It seems it was converted from the site of some kilns, so I guess pottery used to be produced on the grounds. I saw a really fancy looking restaurant, with an even fancier-sounding menu. Nothing really appealed to me, and I didn’t agree with the prices (they seemed low for what they were) so I continued on my way. Continuing to wander, I came across what appeared to be a photo shoot, in that there was a photographer with expensive-looking equipment and a pretty girl striking poses. I suppose the red brick buildings would be an interesting backdrop. I stopped at a Lawson convenience store for food and retreated to the ryokan to eat and veg.

Yesterday I went to Nagoya Castle, which is going some pretty significant and blatant renovations. I say blatant, even though it’s probably not the right word, because there’s a huge concrete structure that looks like it could become a warehouse on the approach from the castle gate to the castle itself that you are forced to go around. All in all the castle wasn’t nearly as good as Osaka or Himeji Castles. There was little English signage, probably around half of the exhibits. On the top floor observation deck/souvenir shop, you had to look out windows instead of being able to go outside, like you could at Osaka, and the grounds just weren’t that impressive. I’m mostly comparing to Osaka Castle here, since both have been converted into museums. Himeji Castle is on its own and scores huge points for authenticity. If you are reading this and considering going to Japan, skip Nagoya Castle and go straight to Osaka and Himeji.

On the plus side, the kishimen place on the grounds was great! Kishimen is a Nagoya specialty, handmade flat noodles.

After that I went to the city center and wandered a bit, and sat down by a fountain to people-watch and rest my feet. When two people came by and lit up cigarettes right next to me, it was time to move on. I started heading to the Nagoya Science Museum, since that was my backup if I found myself with too much free time. Enroute I stopped at an arcade and played a few games. At a couple arcades I’ve seen these large pods, the inside set up like a mecha cockpit, and it appears to be a networked Gundam team deathmatch game. I wanted to try it but the coin-op didn’t take my coins. It looks like you need to buy some sort of card first. I didn’t bother due to lack of English instructions. I figured I could sort out the game’s controls once I was playing.

The science museum was pretty lame. The content is geared towards grade school kids and there is no English signage worth mentioning. So around 3:15 I found myself wandering back to the ryokan. I discovered I had walked by robot ramen Tuesday night without knowing it, which was kinda cool. I wonder what is around Jimbocho that I want to check out but don’t realize is so close. Robot ramen itself was pretty cool. I took a video of my ramen being prepared, but Angelica took a better one when she was there. I also had robot gyoza, which was good but I think Kobe Chinatown’s was better.

As for the ryokan itself? The traditional room was interesting but sleeping was uncomfortable. Both the mat and pillow were hard, and my sides are sore as a result. It was difficult to get comfortable to say the least. I’m looking forward to my hotel in Tokyo, where I will have a bed again, and for the first time on my trip, a chair with a back in my room.